SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- After the so-bad-you-can’t believe it start I figured that Jim Boeheim’s worst-ever defeat – the 69-108 debacle at DePaul on March 2nd, 2006 – was certainly going to be in the rear-view mirror when the evening was over. But that 11-0 run at the end of the half, which became 13-0 when we made the opening score of the second half made the evening more interesting. SU’s effort never lagged after that, even though Duke pulled away a gain and there were spectacular plays on both sides from that point, not just from their side. It was 23-51 at our lowest point That was with 3:36 left in the half. Over the last 23:36, it was Syracuse 49 Duke 46. Some of that was due to Duke not maintaining their initial intensity with the big lead but a lot of it was due to what our guys were doing to respond.
- When it was 0-14 they ran a thing on the big scoreboard where they asked various SU players not named Boeheim which player was Jim’s favorite on the team. They each said “Me!” followed by a game show wrong-answer buzzer. I turned to the guy next to me and said that “Boeheim’s favorite player will be the one who finally scores. That proved to be Buddy, who scored our first four and 7 of our first 9 points on his way to a 23 point game. No buzzer ended.
- Joe Girard came back from his horrible game at Notre Dame to score 18 points. Neither Buddy nor Joe shot well from outside, (5 for 18) but they got around their defenders to hit 12 of 19 two pointers.
- Bourama Sidibie continues to amaze. In this game, going up against Williams, Bourama was 4 for from the field and 3 for 3 from the line, thus scoring 11 out of 11 possible points on those shots. He only had 4 rebounds but had 3 assists and a block on his painful knees. I’ll say it again: Give DaJuan Coleman and Bourama Sidiibe healthy knees and the last 8 years are completely different.
- And, finally a Benny Williams sighting. He came off the bench as if rocker propelled, hitting 5 of 7 shots and 4 of 5 free throws for a career high 14 points, doubling his former high. He led the team with 6 rebounds. He hit a short jumper and went around and underneath and over the Dukies to score. This is what we’d hoped to see from the beginning of the season. It was suggested on the WAER post game show that the present of several members of next year’s recruiting class watching the game – including guys who could play his position – may have had some bearing on his performance. The 5 guys we’ve got are currently ranked the 25th best class in the country. Judah Mintz is rated the 53rd best prospect in the country. JB hinted that there might even be 7 guys in this class in his presser. Benny suddenly becoming Benny would be the equivalent of adding a 5 star to that class, (he was ranked #32), because he’s been AWOL this year until this game. This could be quite a group and whole new era for SU basketball. We need one.
- We’re 15-14 with two games left against teams not named Duke. They are named North Carolina and Miami, so they won’t be easy to beat. But if we can do it, we will have clinched the 52nd consecutive winning season. And it’s been obvious for a long time that that is the only one of our usual goals that this team was capable of achieving. So let’s achieve it.
15-14 with 2+ to go.
LET’S GO ORANGE!
- When it was 0-14 they ran a thing on the big scoreboard where they asked various SU players not named Boeheim which player was Jim’s favorite on the team. They each said “Me!” followed by a game show wrong-answer buzzer. I turned to the guy next to me and said that “Boeheim’s favorite player will be the one who finally scores. That proved to be Buddy, who scored our first four and 7 of our first 9 points on his way to a 23 point game. No buzzer ended.
- Joe Girard came back from his horrible game at Notre Dame to score 18 points. Neither Buddy nor Joe shot well from outside, (5 for 18) but they got around their defenders to hit 12 of 19 two pointers.
- Bourama Sidibie continues to amaze. In this game, going up against Williams, Bourama was 4 for from the field and 3 for 3 from the line, thus scoring 11 out of 11 possible points on those shots. He only had 4 rebounds but had 3 assists and a block on his painful knees. I’ll say it again: Give DaJuan Coleman and Bourama Sidiibe healthy knees and the last 8 years are completely different.
- And, finally a Benny Williams sighting. He came off the bench as if rocker propelled, hitting 5 of 7 shots and 4 of 5 free throws for a career high 14 points, doubling his former high. He led the team with 6 rebounds. He hit a short jumper and went around and underneath and over the Dukies to score. This is what we’d hoped to see from the beginning of the season. It was suggested on the WAER post game show that the present of several members of next year’s recruiting class watching the game – including guys who could play his position – may have had some bearing on his performance. The 5 guys we’ve got are currently ranked the 25th best class in the country. Judah Mintz is rated the 53rd best prospect in the country. JB hinted that there might even be 7 guys in this class in his presser. Benny suddenly becoming Benny would be the equivalent of adding a 5 star to that class, (he was ranked #32), because he’s been AWOL this year until this game. This could be quite a group and whole new era for SU basketball. We need one.
- We’re 15-14 with two games left against teams not named Duke. They are named North Carolina and Miami, so they won’t be easy to beat. But if we can do it, we will have clinched the 52nd consecutive winning season. And it’s been obvious for a long time that that is the only one of our usual goals that this team was capable of achieving. So let’s achieve it.
15-14 with 2+ to go.
LET’S GO ORANGE!
